At first, I thought the same thing - but seeing the replay, Denard reached down to catch the microphone/headset thingy that was knocked loose in the celebration. Not injury-related.

Anyway, if that kind of contact is going to make Denard wince in pain, we might as well right him off for the season. But again, I don't think that's what happened. I did see Wellman come over to him right after that though, maybe telling him to lay off the shoulder bumps for a while.

If you're going to hand off to the back plunging up the middle -- don't, uh, -- don't you need to account for the MIKE? I mean, like, assign a blocker to him? As in, I don't know, you know, make sure he's not COMING UNBLOCKED TO BLOW THE PLAY UP.

These football geniuses who get paid billions of dollars to design these high-efficiency offensive plays, they obviously know what they're doing, because I have no clue.

(No, really, I have no clue -- was that a schematic problem for the Cats, or, was Demens just outrageously blowing that up.)

We had a really funky alignment on that down, with only three down linemen spread way out on the line. I think we confused Colter into checking into a run, as he probably thought we were dropping our LBs into coverage.

The Hawthorne holding flag on that KR TD was the least holdingest of the 4 holds I saw when Griese and Pasch spent the entire replay looking for the hold. The holds started 25 yards or so earlier than the flag Hawthorne drew.

I normally like Fitzgerald, but that was incredibly douche. It wasn't happiness with a great play as much as a personal foul penalty on his QB. His team didn't "do" anything right other can get hit out of bounds.

That was one of the most inappropriate and obnoxious things I've ever seen a CFB coach do on the sidelines. He jumped like Phil Mickleson did when he rolled in the winning putt at the Masters, not because NW won, or even scored, but because Michigan got called for a weak ass penalty.

Act your age Pat.

Sing to the colors that float in the light;
Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue!

late hit out of bounds penalties only get called based on how violently people fall over. When they don't trip, no flag. If you are pushed into them and they trip over some stray chair, 15 yard penalty for you

The more I watch this the more I appreciate the confusion caused by the way Mattison lined up our guys. I'm sure the UFR will be better than my take, but it looks like the guy who went after JMFR really should have gone after Demens. There is another blocker inside who releases to take on a linebacker, but has this whoa moment when he doesn't see anyone to block.

Funny. This play happened right in front of me but I couldn't see it. All I saw was the D-line players. They completely blocked Demens from my view and only after hearing the crowd erupt did I know we came up with the stop.

"wolverinehistorian, for someone so dedicated and seemingly level headed, his grudges are monumental." ~ triangle_M

Penn State fans are livid about this and rightfully so but we're the ones who're really getting screwed. If the referees in the last two Nebraska games were halfway good at their jobs, there would be a real chance that we'd be playing Iowa next week for a chance to clinch a trip to the championship game.

I personally cannot wait for the flood of Fitzgerald gifs that come out of that obnoxiousness. I am not a gif creator, but I imagine him on a trampoline or wearing a cheerleader outfit with pom poms, pigtails & skirt.

As for Demens, my friend & I watching on TV were both saying before the play started "Why are they only putting 3 on the line? Why are the rest playing so far back? Oh boy...." and then as the play ended "OHHHH!, That's why so Demens could tee him up. THAT WAS AWESOME!" I really need to start trusting Mattison more. He really has earned it at this point.

Although, it was a terrible day for the defense. All Northwestern does all game is pitch the ball or not pitch the ball, and it looked like we had no idea how to defend this simple thing until the last drive. This is the first time the D looked ill-prepared under Mattison.

I know the stats won't look that great but this is a really hard offens to prepare for and adjust to. I don't think it's a case of being ill prepared. Up tempo/option offenses are just difficult to prepare for. Look at what Texas A&M's up tempo did to Alabama today.